Back in the US

I'm back in the US now. The first thing I did was check my weight... I was expecting to gain at least 10 lbs. But it was the same weight thanks to one major food poisoning and two minor stomach problems. Once in Spain, which we assume was caused by one of the pinchos (we don't know how long the pinchos were sitting at the counter) and twice in Morocco. The major one, we assume, was caused by ice in a drink. We were told the water in Marrakesh was drinkable because it's highly chlorinated. But some parasites are chlorine resistant. Luckily we had medicine for that parasite. The second one, we believe was caused by the local sweets that we had on the way to the Atlas. There was a creamy/buttery frosting on top. I was a bit scared to try it because it wasn't very sweet (super sweet stuff is safer because sugar can be a preservative). And later in the evening, we had some stomach problems...

But I have no regrets. No risk, no reward!!


Here is the report on the sweets I bought.


Macaron (Pierre Herme)

The crust was very flaky and a little less filling than Laduree (the one I went to with the chocolate and pastry tasting tour in Paris). I think the ratio between shell and filling was perfect. Like the guide said, the flavors were more creative but not crazy. I like Pierre Herme better than Laduree.

Chocolate - Laurent Gerbaud

This is one of the two Belgian chocolates I bought. Lots of dried fruits and nuts. The chocolate itself was dark and hard chocolate. I thought some of the salt on the nuts was a bit too much. I wonder whether they didn't have an option of unsalted nuts?

Chocolate - Pierre Mancolini

This is another Belgian chocolate. The 4 pieces in the middle are their standard chocolate, surrounded by ones with different cacao from various regions, such as Cuba, Venezuela, Java and Madagascar. It was interesting to compare chocolates with cacao from different origins.  

Chocolate - La Maison du Chocolat

This is the one I went to with the tasting tour. Because I liked it, I got a box to bring back. And I believe this is the best chocolate among the three I brought back. The chocolate outside is very rich and creamy and the filling is very rich as well. The chocolate and filling complement each other well. However, these pieces didn't taste as good as what I tasted on the tour. It seemed that these are a bit older, probably because this is prepackaged. Next time, I'll pick the chocolates from the counter and have them make a box for me. But these are still very good.

I can't believe my foodie trip is over. Usually vacation time flies so quickly. Because this trip was full of events, I feel like I was traveling for much longer. I was trying to write my experience as much as possible in this blog but I'm sure I missed some of it.

I planned this trip in order to broaden my culinary views. Every country I visited gave me valuable experience. But Morocco was an extraordinarily special place. Everything was so different and every minute was so worthwhile. I have to say that it was the highlight of this entire trip. There are lots of other parts of world with interesting cuisines, and I'm confident that I will visit many of them some day. When I do, I'll have more experiences to share through this blog.

Brussels, Belgium

I can't believe it! I got on the train to Brussels. It was a fast train called Thalys. The train left on time. However, I noticed the train stopped many times. Then, I heard an announcement saying that the train has a mechanical problem. I had about 45 minutes to spare in Brussels in case I couldn't easily find the meeting point for the chocolate workshop tour. However the train arrived 1 hour and 20 minutes late.... So, I couldn't make it to the workshop. Fortunately, I didn't pre-pay for it. But what could I do now??

I had another reason to come to Brussels: the beer. A friend of mine told me about a brewery in Brussels (yes, Belgian beer!). But I didn't need 8.5 hours for just a brewery. Because the workshop was supposed to take 4 hours, I didn't do any other research on Brussels.

I found a café with free wifi and found places for Belgian waffles and chocolate.


I was expecting to see Belgian waffle stands everywhere. But I didn't see any. Even the café that I went to for wifi didn't have any waffles. Anyway, I arrived at the Belgian waffle place that I found online....

What's this??? It looked so touristy.... And this was in the middle of a very touristy area.. I tried one anyway and it was horrible. Maybe Belgian waffles are supposed to be eaten at home? Or is this food that became overly popular outside Belgium?

After I explored the city, I went to a couple of chocolatiers that I found online.

                                                                    Laurent Gerbaud

Pierre Mancolini. 

I saw a group of people who looked like they were part of a chocolate tour. Is this the one I was supposed to join?? Anyway, I got an assortment with their standard chocolate along with other chocolate with cacao from various countries. They were all simple chocolate without any ganache or nuts. So, I thought this would be the perfect way to compare cacaos from different countries.


Then, I headed to the brewery, Cantillon. I tried one of their major beers, called Gueuze, which is a lambic beer. To be honest, I didn't know much about Belgian beer. But it is sour!!! And it has some distinctive fermented flavor, that reminds me of the sidra that I had in the Basque region. Sidra is a traditional apple cider in the Basque region. I had it once when I was there and I would say that's an acquired taste...

After I came back to Paris, I did the last of my shopping because I'm leaving for the US tomorrow morning.


First, I went back to La Maison du Chocolat where I went yesterday on the chocolate tasting tour. I really liked their chocolate. Yes, I can get it in the US., but the only location is in New York. I don't want to fly 6 hours to get this chocolate...

Then, I went to a macaron shop that the tour guide mentioned yesterday. He said Pierre Herman has more creative flavors so I wanted to get some. He said all macarons should be consumed within 48 hours because the crust gets soggier after that. But because I'm leaving tomorrow morning, I think I can still enjoy them when I'm back in the US.

I will give the report of all the sweets (in boxes) once I'm back in the US.


I'm leaving for the US tomorrow morning...

Chocolate tasting

I was hungry. But because I knew I was going to join the chocolate and pastry tour soon, I didn't want to have a real meal. So, I decided to have a snack at a café. I ordered a glass of beer and some pate - like stuff. The beer came with a slice of lemon. Other than Corona with lime, France is the only country (that I've been to) that serves beer with lemon (or lime). It was a good addition for such a warm day.

I thought I ordered a tomato tart. But I got this pate-like stuff. It consists of three layers and aspic (jelly) on top. The bottom green layer tasted basil. I wasn't sure about the middle layer. I thought the top layer was tomato but it didn't taste like tomato. Probably carrot? But it came with tomato sauce underneath. So, there is some tomato on the plate. I don't think they brought the wrong dish. I guess I misread the menu.

                                                                   Very nice presentation


Now it was time for chocolate and pastry tasting. There were about 10 people so we were split into two groups (we had two guides). Our guide spoke English, Spanish and Japanese fluently (isn't that amazing?).

Our first stop was a bakery called Poilane. They specialize in dome shaped bread. I asked the guide if there's any specific name for this type of bread. He said there isn't a specific name because it's purely a specialty of this bakery. We tasted the bread and it was like brown sour dough bread.

The guide told us that this bakery was Salvador Dali's favorite. Dali designed a chandelier made out of bread for them. Because the breads don't last that long, the bakery replaces the bread once in a while. But the frame inside is Dali's design. Here it is.

The next stop is a chocolatier, called La Maison du Chocolat. Outside France, they have branches in London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

             Amazing view. I could only pick one piece for tasting so I chose hazelnut. Very gooood!

Also, the let us taste their two kinds of éclairs, chocolate and caramel.

 No, I didn't eat all of it. Just one piece for each per person. But that was enough. Very rich! The filling was so thick and heavy that I'm not sure if I could finish the whole thing. But it was so decadent....

So far, we had a slice of bread, some cookies, a piece of chocolate and two small pieces of éclair. It doesn't seem a lot but we needed a break with some water because they were so rich. The guide took us to a church before going to the next stop.


It's time for macarons. The guide took us to one of the most famous macaron shops, called Laduree. He thinks this is the best macaron if you are looking for something simple. He mentioned Pierre Herme if you like more creative flavors.

The guide said French macarons have more filling because French people like things rich. Yes, he is right. I tried orange blossom. The filling seem to be at least 50% more than what I'm used to.


The next stop was chewy caramel candy (I forgot to write down the name...)

I tried salted caramel, which is their specialty, and orange ginger. The salted caramel is really "salted". You can really tasted salt in this caramel.


The last stop was a chocolatier called Maison Georges Larnicol. The patissier is from the Brittany region of France and you could see the Brittany flags or the colors of the flags inside the store. There were many chocolate sculptures displayed in the store.

While they sell many beautiful sculptures like these, their chocolates are sold in bulk like a candy store. You just grab a plastic bag and put whatever you want in the bag. I chose simple dark chocolate and chopped almond, orange peel & dark chocolate balls. They tasted simple but great. Also, they sell white chocolate while many chocolatiers in France do not consider white chocolate as "chocolate". I guess the owner must be more casual and less "classy".

I had enough sweets but I decided to make a day trip to Brussels, Belgium for a chocolate workshop tomorrow. I'd love to see if there are any differences between French chocolate and Belgian chocolate.

Paris

I arrived in Paris last night via Marseille. Since I left Marrakesh, I'm on my own. Although I've been to many cities in Europe, this is my first time in Paris. Let's see what I can do in this famous city with my non-existent French language skill....

First, I had to try a croissant.

This was a chocolate croissant. I have to say it was very good... The outside was flaky but the inside was very buttery. It's just different from what I usually have in the US, which is more like "bread". Croissants are very time consuming to make by yourself. But I have to try once I go back to the US. I hope I can get as close to this as possible.


After regular sightseeing, I found a nice patisserie, called Pain de Sucre. Their pastries looked amazing so I decided to try them.

I thought this was a pistachio éclair. But it tasted like basil or some sort of herb. The cream inside was pretty thick.

This may look disgusting but I knew I had to try this because I knew what the wormy thing on top was. It's chestnut paste, which is my favorite!! To me, it looked so pretty. The second layer was grapefruit. I wasn't sure about the third layer, probably chestnut and chocolate mousse? The bottom was saffron mouse. I thought grapefruit wasn't necessary because the acidity and bitterness didn't go well with the other components. But I really enjoyed the other 3 layers. I love chestnut! I don't know why chestnuts aren't very popular in the US...


After more walking, I found a food court, called Flunch. I decided to check it out. Inside was not something you would expect in a food court in shopping malls in the US. The atmosphere was pop and cute, but the foods looked very sophisticated. So, here's what I got.

                                            Salad nicoise, 3 kinds of cheese, bread and wine.


Tomorrow, I signed up for a chocolate and pastry tasting tour. I guess I'm going to focus on sweets while I'm in Paris.

Last day in Morocco

After we got ready to leave the hotel for Marrakesh, we had breakfast. It was almost same as what we had the day before. But we've got mssamen this morning. This is a good opportunity to see if what I made is close to what others make.

Compared to what I made, this is less doughy and fluffier. To be honest, I liked this better. Also, I could feel the layers when I ate it. I really liked their mssamen. I should probably knead a bit less to avoid gluten formation or experiment with softer flour. Anyway, I'll have to make some adjustments because I assume the flour I can get in the US is slightly different (just because I used a regular flour in Morocco doesn't mean I can all replace it with all purpose flour).



Then, we left the hotel. On the way back to Marrakesh, we stopped by a BBQ restaurant. The meat (lamb) was hanging at the front of the restaurant. When it's really hot, I don't know how safe this would be. But it'll be grilled anyway. Do as the Romans do!

We just picked the meat and told them how much we wanted. There were two options for cooking: kefta and chops. We ordered both.

                    For kefta, they ground the meat in front of us and made the kefta right then.

                                     Both kefta and chops were grilled in front of the restaurant.


While we were waiting for the meat to be grilled, we had tea, bread and some appetizers.

                                  This is very refreshing. I would call it Moroccan pico de gallo?

Lamb chops 

                                                                               Kefta


Grilled tomato and onions on top of the meat made it even better. This is not something I can do everywhere. A very precious experience.

On the way to Marrakesh, we had some nice chats. One of the topics was the freshness of ingredients. I rarely saw canned foods while I was in Morocco. Considering the location of Marrakesh (not close to any seaports and the area looks too dry to grow plants), I thought it'd be difficult to get fresh foods all the time. Even in the Atlas, I didn't see canned foods. They do use dried foods a lot, though. The Moroccan driver told me that making foods from scratch is very important in Morocco. I really hope they keep it that way.

I really enjoyed the stay in Morocco. Everything is so different. I believe seeing and experiencing new/different things is the best part of traveling. Morocco was the best place for that purpose.

I'm flying to Marseille tonight then taking a train to Paris tomorrow. That's the last destination of this trip for me.

Hiking in Atlas

Before going hiking, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel. It started with tea and olives. Then, they brought bread (something like Hawaiian sweet bread) along with two jams, honey, butter, and homemade olive oil.

                                                The homemade olive oil was really nice.


Then, they brought a fried egg. It seems like just a normal breakfast dish. But they sprinkled cumin on top. Very Moroccan. Cumin can be a bit overpowering. But I noticed Moroccan cumin is less pungent than ones I'm used to in the US. We discussed it at breakfast. Probably what we get in the US is from India. During the cooking class, we used tons of cumin on each dish. But it wasn't as "cumin-forward" as some Indian or Middle Eastern dishes.

After the breakfast, we headed to the Atlas. The tour guide said the hotel would prepare a lunch. And this is our lunch box....

I wasn't surprised that the lunch is tajine. But I was surprised that we are taking it in a super hot tajine pot.... This is how we carried our lunch in the car.... The driver said this is normal. If we had brought charcoal, we could have cooked the tajine in the Atlas.

By the way, the stuff blocking the tajine pot from shifting during the drive is a bunch of pencils that I brought from the US. The tour guide suggested that I bring pencils or socks to give away to local kids because we were driving by small villages. She said that children in such small villages can't afford things like this. We gave away all the pencils at different locations. One lady with a small boy gave us a gesture of "wait" when we gave a pencil to her son. She started to pick up walnuts on the ground and gave them to us. That was a very touching moment.....



Once we arrived at rocky area with a nice creek, we decided to have a lunch there. We brought some utensils but we decided to eat like local people and eat it just with the flatbread we brought. The Moroccan driver demonstrated how to eat it. It's pretty much the same as how Indian people eat food with naan. It was a very nice experience.

Lots of vegetables, such as eggplant, zucchini and potato. The zucchini is stuffed with kefta. Very good.



It seems we are the only people staying at this hotel (not a big accommodation, it's only 10 rooms or so), probably because it's on weekdays. The hotel is in such a remote area with no foreign tourists. It's really nice that we can keep the entire inn to ourselves. But the lounge where we had dinner was very quiet - I wish I could have interacted with other local people.

Anyway, the tagine of the night is eggplant with meat (probably lamb).

This dessert is very interesting. It was very refreshing. Because the lounge was pretty dark, we couldn't tell what it was at first (it's interesting how much we can not tell what we are eating without vision). Then, we could taste orange juice. But it took a while to figure out what this is. It is grated cucumber! I never thought that these two ingredients make such a nice dessert. It may be my personal preference because I love cocktails with cucumber (which not everyone is crazy about...). But this was a new finding for me. It seems this is a creation of the chef. I don't think this is something traditional Moroccan.

Tomorrow, we are driving back to Marrakesh and then flying to Marseille, France.

Going to Atlas

Now that we've finished the 3 day intensive cooking class, we are going on a 3 day road trip to Atlas (mountains). In addition to the owner of the riad (now, she is a tour guide), a local Moroccan driver joined our road trip. Luckily, he spoke English pretty well (and of course, French fluently). By the way,  he can text in Arabic with one phone, talk to a client in French on another cell phone, then still listen to our conversation in English and join us when he is not talking on the phone. Isn't that amazing???

By the way, tea is a big part of Moroccan culture. They drink coffee too but it seems tea is the standard drink for many occasions. But one unusual occasion is before a meal -  not after a meal like we have coffee. But if we consider the fact that Moroccans don't drink alcohol, it makes sense.

On the way to Atlas, we stopped by at a tea shop.

Until this time, all the tea I had was made by the riad owner. It was pretty sweet but within reasonable sweetness. This tea is real... Very sweet. I knew that this was authentic. 

Along with the tea, we had the leftover sweets that I made yesterday. The Moroccan driver said the fekkas was really good. That was my favorite so I was very glad to know that it was good enough to please a local person.

As soon as we arrived at the hotel, which is amazingly rustic and beautiful, we had another tea.

 Again, this is "authentic" tea. It was fantastic but two small glasses would be enough.....


Followed by the tea, we had a lunch there.

                                     Nice salad, each component was prepared individually.

Don't they look amazing? I thought this was chicken but it was actually turkey. I didn't know Moroccans eat turkey. The seasoning was very good. I wish these were chicken because the meat was a bit dry.


After the lunch, we went hiking. What we found was...

Nice pomegranate trees. they are all wild. Unfortunately, the fruit wasn't ripe yet. I tried one but it was still too tangy.

                   We also found many fig trees. Most of them were not ripened yet. But....

This is perfectly ripened fig. I have to say this is the best fig I've ever had. Perfect texture, color and sweetness. I always notice some grassy aftertaste when I eat figs. So, I had never been a big fan of figs. But this was ripened perfectly on the tree so that the grassiness was gone and it was just sweet.... Unfortunately, we didn't find that many perfectly ripened figs. In a few weeks, almost everything would be like this, though.


After we came back from hiking, it was time for dinner. We had a dinner at the lounge with very dim light, which is traditional in Morocco. Even Moroccan restaurants in the US have very dim light... So, the photo quality wouldn't be great.

This is their version of harira. Compared to the one we made during the cooking class, this was much simpler. More liquid.. I wonder if what we made was gourmet version and this is more standard. But I liked what we made yesterday. By the way, cumin is a condiment in Morocco. So, there was cumin in addition to salt and pepper. I added a pinch of salt and cumin, then it tasted so much better.

This is the first tajine I've had outside the riad. I forgot what meat it was. But it was very "tomatoey". Also, because of the prunes, it tasted very light. I liked it.

It's always nice to have the same or similar dishes in different places. The more I try in different locations, the more I understand the dishes.

Last day of cooking class

It's already the last day of cooking class. After we discussed the menu and the ingredients we needed to get, we headed to the market. People at the market started to recognize me because it's my third day there. I felt like I was semi-local.

When I was making Mssamen two days ago, the assistant Moroccan girl was laughing at me because the way I was kneading the dough wasn't right. We had lots of baking today, so, it was my opportunity to show her that "I can do this!" The way she kneaded dough was very different from regular bread dough kneading. But that's the way all Moroccans do it. So, I really wanted to nail it.

I still felt a little uncomfortable kneading the dough in the Moroccan way. But I noticed that she was laughing less today and started to nod sometimes. So, I kept doing it. Eventually, she let me alone. Usually she stays with me and takes it over because she can't keep watching me doing it wrong... I guess, she trusted me now!!!


Batbout

This is another Moroccan bread

                              It looks like pupusa (without filling) but it actually tasted like a pita


Beef Tangia

The beef was marinated the day before with spices, Moroccan ghee, preserved lemon and sugar. After we transferred the beef to the tangia (pot shown below), we went outside.

The instructor took us to the back room of a hammam (traditional public bath). There was a man who takes care of the coals that warm the bath. Traditionally, the heat in the room has been used to cook tangia. The heat is pretty low so that it's suitable for slow cooking. Because this is a man's job, tangia is considered as men's food. It was an amazing sight. I was so glad that we could experience something like this.

            After cooking for almost 8 hours in such low heat, the meat completely falls off the bones.



Lamb kefta

Freshly ground lamb meat at the market in the morning is mixed with spices and seasoning. The sauce is cooked separately although the ingredients are pretty much same. It seems that's the way it is supposed be.

Finished with eggs. The eggs are not beaten before adding, instead, I broke the egg yolks with a fork and spread them out on top of the kefta.

[Added in May, 2020 - Lamb Kefta cooking video]

Harira

Harira is a traditional Moroccan soup that is particularly popular during the month of Ramadan.

We prepared this yesterday. A whole chicken would be in the soup. We cooked the chicken for a half day, then shredded the chicken meat

Lots of meat, beans, vegetables, spices, herbs.... A very rich and hearty soup. Excellent! Any soups that I've had here have been fabulous.



Pumpkin Chutney

Stewed Eggplant

This looks almost same as the pumpkin chutney above. In fact, the ingredients other than pumpkin / eggplant are pretty much the same. The stewed eggplant is less sweet, though. The eggplant is parboiled and therefore it's very soft. I liked this a lot.


Zucchini salad, pumpkin chutney, mashed sweet potato and eggplant with honey and salt
   (from upper left - clockwise)

Ghoriba

                                              I would say this is the Moroccan version of a macaroon.


Fekkas, Krachal and Ghoriba

                    Fekkas is Moroccan version of biscotti and that was my favorite dessert.


It is very difficult to spell out Arabic with the Western alphabet. All the names on my notes are based on what I heard. So, before I write them down on this blog, I Google just to make sure I get the right spelling. But there are too many variations.... So the spellings I have here are just one of the many spellings available online.


At the end, I asked the instructor how to make preserved lemon. Preserved lemon is not something you can make in a day or two. So, we did this at the end of the class. It was quite simple. Just cut the lemon into quarters leaving one end attached. Then, push as much salt as you can into the crevices. That's it. She said I could add lemon juice later if it's too dry. No, spices or herbs. Just lemon and salt. I'm a big fan of fermented food. And I like the distinctive fermented flavor of preserved lemon.


I can't believe how many dishes we made in 3 days. This was totally worth it!!!